everything positive. everything, positive.

Category: +Science

Today is the first day of spring. Or yesterday was, depending on where you are!

The vernal equinox marks the moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator. This is the imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator, from south to north. This happens on March 19, 20 or 21 every year.

Here’s a fun quote about spring!

The time the sun crosses the equator marking the Vernal Equinox is different for each time zone. For those in the Pacific, Mountain and Central time zones, this will occur on March 19th. For those in the Eastern time zone, spring begins on March 20th at 12:30 a.m.
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This year spring arrives a little earlier due to it being a leap year. You might remember back on Leap Day a little math lesson regarding the Gregorian calendar. To keep our calendar following the seasons so that spring happens when flowers grow and winter arrives when snow falls, an additional day was figured into years divisible by the number four.
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Before this year, the earliest spring on record took place in 1896.

Like this:

Came across this on the Facebook, and we’re sharing it here because we think it is beautiful. If we could all wrap our heads around the fact that we are all in/on the same boat, so to speak, we’d be better off IOHO. Anyway, it has been viewed almost 5 million times, so chances are you’ve seen it. If you haven’t, enjoy this spectacular vidya!

The 17-year-old actor took a breath and then said “3.14159265358979323846264338327950.”

It only took him four seconds.

That’s… pretty nerdy, even if it is only 30 digits. Wright probably comes by this ability due to his education. See, he studies particle physics in his spare time.

Yeah, if you fill your spare time with particle physics, you’re probably a nerd. Likely, a Three-Eyed nerd. It is probably better to be an actor who can recite a good chunk of Pi, than one who doesn’t know what ‘chicken of the sea’ means.
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[via: Business Insider]

Like this:

Grecia the Toucan [via fusion.net]
People are awful sometimes. And some of them were super awful to this beautiful bird.

The 1-year-old toucan’s upper beak got hacked off by a group of miscreants who left the bird for dead after ruining his handsome face. For the past four months, the half-beaked bird has been nursed back to health at Costa Rica’s Animal Rescue Bird Zoo, where he’s learned to feed himself by scooping and guzzling mashed fruit with his lower mandible — not unlike a pelican.

Enter Science! and Awesome People. Some folks started an indiegogo campaign to get this guy a new goddamn beak.

Thanks to the collective ingenuity of Costa Rica’s tech sector, and $10,000 in funding from an Indiegogo campaign, the injured bird is about to get equipped with a new 3D-printed prosthetic beak — or “toucan dentures,” as nobody has called it.

They are going to 3-D print him a beak!

“It’s really special to be able to help an injured toucan with 3D printing technology and show the world that Costa Rica has the skills and potential to do something like this,” said Mariela Fonseca, manager of Elementos 3D, one of the three Costa Rican firms working to build the toucan a prosthetic chomper.

Currently, the good people attending to Grecia are figuring out how, exactly, to attach his new beak, and how it will impact him once they do figure out the best way to attach it. Whether humans like it or not, the bird does have a say, and he might say, “hell with this, I’m doing okay for now.”

“If we put the beak on and it stresses him out or causes any pain, it’ll be better to take it off again,” Soto told Fusion. “Because instead of improving his life, we’d be doing the opposite. But we have to try in any event.”

They are still deciding on colors for the new beak. The article mentions a Toucan Sam scheme, but I’d say let the bird decide. He may think Toucan Sam is a douche.

Like this:

Now a lot of people love a drink every now and then, but some people like it a little too much. Let’s not let this article be misconstrued as an excuse to binge drink your favorite brew, absolutely nothing is good for you in excess. BUT if you are feeling guilty about knocking back a couple with your buddies, breath easy! Cause it turns out that the hop filled nectar of the gods is actually GOOD for you in moderation! YAAYYYY!

Here are some new excuses to give anyone that’s standing between you a frothy mug…

1- IT’S GOOD FOR YOUR HEART!

There are more than 20 well-done, large international studies that all demonstrate the heart benefits of moderate alcohol consumption. One study, conducted by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) noted a 20 to 40 percent decrease in coronary artery disease in moderate alcohol drinkers.

Drinking beer responsibly is drinking healthy. Moderate consumption of beer (alcohol) results in an increase in HDL (good cholesterol) and a decrease in LDL (bad cholesterol), along with an improvement in both HDL and LDL particle size.

2-IT’S FULL OF VITAMIN-Y GOODNESS!

A Dutch study showed a 30 percent increase in vitamin B6 in beer drinkers, which makes sense because hops are loaded with the vitamin. This is important because vitamin B6 helps to battle heart disease.

Alcohol is also an antioxidant, which may contribute in part to the decrease in heart disease.

3-DECREASES KIDNEY STONES!

The Journal of Epidemiology revealed a 40 percent decrease in kidney stones among beer drinkers. This is most likely secondary to the hydration from the beer since we don’t note a similar finding with other alcohol consumption.

4-SPECIAL BENEFITS FOR LADIES!

The National Osteoporosis Risk Assessment followed more than 200,000 females and found that drinking alcohol decreased the incidence of osteoporosis (7). All of this leads to a decrease in hip fractures in elderly females, which is important because hip fractures after the age of 65 are associated with a significant increase in mortality.

So there you have it guys (and gals)! Enjoy a couple on us! (Not literally of course, but it’s the thought…) ;D